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Breaking Down My Favorite Cards From 2013 Chrome Football

Over the last few days, its been very clear how many people are opening Topps Chrome. In a year where most products haven’t seen much action, Chrome is blowing them out of the water. I want to recap some of my favorites so far, as I have seen a lot of awesome stuff come out of this product that should make everyone want to open a few boxes just for fun.

Rookie Auto Patch /50

Since 2011, this part of the product has drastically turned around. Prior to that time, Topps tried to add a patch to the already packed in base design, which didn’t work at all. This year, the cards are hard signed for the first time ever, and the results are incredibly amazing. I absolutely love these cards, and its obvious that I am not the only one who thinks this. Topps really did a great job with them.

I am not a fan of Superfractor designs, as I think they just get a bit to gaudy and busy for my taste. I do love the reds, as I think they offer the scarcity that drives value, without compromising the basic look of a chrome auto. The red refractor autos were new as of 2011 as well, and I know there are collectors out there that try to pick up as many as possible. With an extended rookie checklist, hopefully there are enough to go around.

If the red autos are too rich for your blood, which is entirely possible, I would take a look at the base reds. From all accounts, these cards are ridiculously tough pulls this year, as people are going through case after case and not coming away with any.

As we saw last year, Topps has taken the updated photography from the premiere and added it to these cards which made their debut in flagship. The results are hugely improved, considering how poorly these cards turned out the first time around. They are as rare as they were in 2012, so not many of them have popped up so far, but I would definitely consider adding them, as the 1986 design is as iconic as it gets.

I think that adding the blue waves into packs was a great idea, as it allowed for hard signed autographs on the cool pattern. I would almost suggest taking a look at these cards in person, because scans just don’t do them justice. For last year, we had the Prism autograph pattern, which I cant stand, and this ends up being that much better.

With the way Chrome has turned out, I am happy to report that my love affair with this product continues for another year. With the second half of the 2013 card year bearing down, Im interested to see how everything can compare. So far, companies should be prepared to go up against Chrome when battling out the collector interest for their products, and the set earned its stripes again this year based on a lot of the ways it was executed. Well done with very few exceptions.